During Income Tax raids on two businessmen in Kanpur, Kannauj, Mumbai, and Gujarat, tax evasion worth crores of rupees was discovered. The residence, factory, office, cold store, and fuel station of perfume merchant Piyush Jain, who is connected to Akhilesh Yadav, were raided by the Income Tax Department. Jain also released the Samajwadi Party perfume, dubbed ‘Samajwadi Attar,’ in November.
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The Income Tax crew arrived at Piyush Jain’s Anandpuri apartment in the city first, with the money counting equipment. Similar I-T searches were being carried out at Jain’s locations in Mumbai and Gujarat. Officials said they’ve discovered a case of tax evasion worth over Rs 150 crore. The majority of the tax avoidance was carried out through shell corporations. Piyush Jain, who lives in Anandpuri, is originally from Chhipatti in Kannauj. In Kannauj, he also owns a residence, a perfume factory, a refrigerated shop, and a gas station.
Piyush Jain also owns a home, a corporate headquarters, and a shop in Mumbai. His businesses are registered in Mumbai as well. The raids began concurrently on Thursday morning in Kanpur, Mumbai, and Gujarat and finished late that night. During the raids, cash worth Rs 150 crore was allegedly discovered. The searches were led by a Mumbai team, and they were also carried out by a Kanpur team of Income Tax agents under their supervision. Piyush Jain, according to authorities, owns roughly 40 businesses, including two in the Middle East.
During the raid, it was also discovered that the firm had taken out loans in the names of shell corporations. The company’s international dealings are also significant. Meanwhile, an Internal Revenue Service officer acknowledged that the raid is connected to tax evasion “Income and tax-related documents are being examined. With the assistance of SBI employees, the process of counting cash bills is still ongoing. It could be finished by Friday. It is requested that it be seized in order to conduct more thorough investigations.”
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Similarly, searches were carried out at the plant, the pan masala manufacturer’s facilities, and a transporter who was involved in the transfer of products under the guise of phoney invoices and without creating e-way bills. To avoid generating e-way bills, the transporter used to produce several invoices in the name of non-existent organisations, all under Rs 50,000 for one truck load. Outside the plant, the authorities successfully intercepted and captured four such vehicles. The transporter’s warehouse has collected more than 200 fraudulent invoices used in the past for transit without GST payment. At addition, physical stocktaking in the plant revealed a scarcity of raw materials and completed items.
